Today whilst shopping in a town near Salisbury I saw a very strange sight, one which I have never encountered before. Stood before was a gentleman in CS95, boots and a No2 Dress peaked cap. At first I thought it was an Officer (as we all know that they can dress very bizarrely), however, out of curisoity I got closer and to my astonishment the individual concerned was a WO2. Without wanting to insult the RA and their codes of dress, he looked a complete chopper!

OK then.....let's open a can of worms. What do we think of the Gunnery staff? and why do we think that? What should we do to change the staff?

I for one, in my many dealings with Close support SMIGs (mainly GTT support to the Regiment) have found them to be professional, knowledgeable, and extremely helpful. They have been proactive and completely onside, unlike the SMIGs of 15 years ago, who, I agree were tw*ts.

I can remember at Batus when a No 1 was having a bad day, it was obvious there was a swinger and the SMIG said the rounds are safe let him carry on, he will learn from his mistake! He could have saved the Bdr and his famiy a Â£1000 and a regimental Entry

I used to deal with the SMIG's and IG's back in the 80's. When i was on the Gn Position I always found the SMIG's a pretty quiet bunch. They never had to say much, just a look or a nod was enough.

The IG's when i was on the OP's was a different matter altogether. I've seen young FOO's in tears with some of these. They used to give them a torrid time. I worked with one in particular quite often.........

Cut 20 odd years later and the company i work for was being taken over. Guess who was in charge of the takeover bid.....the IG himself. He was just as bad (if not worse) when he was here. I recognised him straight away and after a chat about old times and old FOO's we hit it off big time. Glad though, he was a ruthless tw*t as a civvy too.